


Between friend and foe

by Lumeha



Category: Bleach
Genre: .... I guess this is mostly, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Mention - Aizen / Shinji, and good luck guessing who is who, but nah that's mostly fluff, maybe a little sadness, soulmate au where you have both your soulmate and your enemy name on your wrists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 18:58:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9507659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumeha/pseuds/Lumeha
Summary: "Y’know what’s weird ? Like… really fuckin’ weird ?"A name for your soulmate on your wrist, a name for your enemy on the other. Guessing who is who is not that hard, after a while, but there is still something strange about it. There is no better time to talk about it with your partner than after a restless night.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt : "the one where your soulmate’s name is on one wrist and your enemy’s name is on the other and you have no clue which is which.", given to me by Wilwy over Tumblr~!

-Y’know what’s weird ? Like…  _ really _ fuckin’ weird ?

Shinji’s voice is still sleepy, and his eyes are half-closed while he is lazily stretched on what they hesitantly call their bed. Rose makes a small noise, listening without looking, awake even if he doesn’t look like it. It is early, too early to get up, sun rising in the horizon, and one too many nightmare is keeping Shinji up, restless and exhausted. They all have nightmares, all have shadows drawn in ash under their eyes, but he is the one visited most often by night terrors.

It has not been long since Kisuke stabilized them, found a way to make them live again. They might be dirt poor and living in the most fucked up conditions, treading on thin ice, a second voice now purring in their mind, but it is… freeing. Even under the pressure and the fear, even with the new scars on their bodies and their minds.

\- I have seen Sosuke’s wrists, Shinji continues.

Another noise, a “well, I guess it’s obvious”, from the back of Rose’s throat. They both know about what the captain and lieutenant of the Fifth shared, at some point ; something like love, something like lust, a relation that was almost a fight as much as it was almost love. ( _ maybe he thought you were the enemy _ , but the echo in his mind is pointless, pointless - because if there is anything he knows, it’s that Shinji never thought that).

\- He has both our names on him. ‘s weird, y’know.

Shinji opens his eyes and raises his arms to take a look at his wrists, at the neat handwritten names that have been there since he was born. The rigorous calligraphy of his former lieutenant and current enemy, and the delicate loops of his soulmate. 

He knows what is on Rose’s. The same rigorous calligraphy, and the terrible inversed brushstrokes he uses to sometimes write his name, that even now his partner still has a hard time reading. That Sosuke always commented on, when he was looking at his wrist.

\- And kinda fucked up when I think ‘bout it.

He rubs his finger on Aizen’s name and closes his eyes. A slow rumble in his mind, and memories bubble up, of time spent and lost, of a something that was nothing but treachery and betrayal. Of a something that was a maybe and was now a never and he’s not even sure of  _ how _ it happened.

But it was that never was as good as what he shares with Rose. Rose, whose name was on Sosuke’s wrist but never on his tongue. Rose, which whom he had shared less time but so much more. Harsh words full of affection. Trust, that they both badly need, especially now, in a world where they can only share with their family that is not blood and all rage. 

Love without suspicion.

\- ‘cause this is supposed to be “your soulmate, your enemy”, right ?

And honestly, which deity overlooking over their weird world thought this was a good idea ? Two names, sometimes more, and no one knows who is going to be friend or foe. It’s a guessing game. 

A dangerous one.

( _ And you honestly knew since the beginning who was friend and who was foe, as soon as both were in your life _ , whispers the Hollow in Shinji’s skull, an itch at the base of his neck, the smile too large, too large, because he  _ knows _ )

\- And he just… has both our names.

There is a pause, a silence that stretches for minutes. 

\- Y’think there is something there ?   
\- Yes. He is an idiot and he has two enemies, because no one should be his soulmate and love him.   
\- I did at some point.

Rose stays silent for a moment. With a sigh, he wraps a hand around Shinji’s shoulder and pull him closer. He knows that tone, light and cheerful, with just a touch of darkness. The joke that is not really a joke. 

\- You did, yes.    
\- But you are way better.   
\- Of course, I am perfect.

A laugh answers him, full of yellow and black. Shinji’s body is tense against him, darkness creeping in his eyes, a too large smile on his face. 

\- And I‘m the kind of fuck up who fall in love with their enemy before their soulmate, he says, voice still light, still cheerful, even with black and yellow in his eyes and on his lips.

Rose snatches Shinji’s chin between his fingers, forces him to look at him. He kisses him. Hard. Harder than he probably should, but he feels the other relaxing under his fingers. A reminder, a way to ground him back into reality. He feels the smaller man’s eyes wander on his face, still tainted with black.

( _ you like broken people _ , murmurs the Hollow, and Rose doesn’t deny it)

\- Maybe you are, he says warmly, but you are my fuck up, and my fuck up needs to stop thinking he is responsible for what the huge asshole that is Aizen Sosuke did. 

(because they are all broken, in little ways, every one of them)

There is another laugh, but this one sounds gold and blue, without any grace. A laugh and a smile, still too large for his face, too large for it to be normal, but the black is recessing. It will come back, it always do, because they are still fighting against themselves, but it’s easier, now. It’s easier to get back. To refuse to let them win. To listen to their voice without every nerves, every memories, every nightmares being awaken and set aflame.

But it is no longer in his eyes, and he’s laughing, sharp and short against Rose shoulder, and it is everything they both need. 

\- Y’know, you are terrible at compliments   
\- You don’t like normal things like actual compliments, I am just adapting myself, at the terrible cost of my artistic integrity. 

Shinji snorts loudly, shoulders shaking, and he wipes his face with the back of his hand. Ungraceful, messy, and full of life. Rose look at him with a sigh and rolls his eyes, an almost smile drawn on his lips.

\- This is  _ very _ serious.   
\- Artistic integrity, my ass.   
\- The most important thing in my life, sacrificed for your sake, and that’s how you thank me ? You ungrateful peasant !   
\- And yet, you love me.   
\- And yet, yes, I do.


End file.
